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Kutmah Presents

Kutmah. Brownswood. Two names that guarantee something different in the music world, something cutting edge and, most importantly of all, something good. For the last couple of years Brownswood has been hipping people to what’s hot in the worldwide electronic scene in its Electr*c series while Kutmah established himself as a Don of the L.A. beat scene–before his forced relocation to England, where he’s become a highly respected DJ, producer and artist.

In a recent interview, Kutmah rather disarmingly said that to establish himself as a DJ, he had to play stuff that nobody else was playing (“you’re not going to be J Rocc, simple as that.”) That admirable philosophy runs through this collection, which is impeccably curated as you’d expect. Some of the names that Kutmah has championed in the past are now reassuringly familiar – Flying Lotus, Hudson Mohawke – but most of the names here are reassuringly unfamiliar.

It’s the new talents, like Groundislava with the brilliant “Creeper Shit” and the soulful “Toby Jug” by Doc Danneka and Abigail Wyles, that really perk things up here. The music here encompasses almost every kind of (good) beat driven genre – basically if you can nod your head to do it, it’s okay – with a soulful tip.

Most of the artists here are drawn from the LA beat scene that Kutmah started out in, but his new home of London is represented as well by Mo Kolours and Flako (the latter’s “Lonely Town” is worth the purchase price by itself).

The only slight problem with this edition of Worldwide Family is that this isn’t a mix, more like a sampler. There’s not much sequencing – it’s not for nothing that it’s called Kutmah Presents. As a presentation of 21 people who you should check out in the underground music scene, it’s a resounding success, as a cohesive listening experience, slightly less so.